I haven't tried the software yet, so I don't know how well it'll work. But I thought I'd post the link that I was sent if anyone's interested. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-57506381-58/get-twistedbrush-pro-studio-art-software-win-for-free/?tag=nl.e796&s_cid=e796

The program is called Twisted Brush Pro Studio 17 (they're up to 19, now, but there you go). It's a Windows version. Here's the program website if you want more info: http://www.pixarra.com/

I've just downloaded it....Wow! It's like getting Painter for free! Thanks Cashio, I've been playing with the watercolour brushes and they really are good. There are a huge number of brushes to play with too.

: : Edit:: Oh yes! The brush density is procedural and remains constant regardless of size - this is something they've only just brought into PS CS6. I really like this a lot!

Chashio

09-05-2012, 08:45 PM

I've just downloaded it....Wow! It's like getting Painter for free! Thanks Cashio, I've been playing with the watercolour brushes and they really are good. There are a huge number of brushes to play with too.

: : Edit:: Oh yes! The brush density is procedural and remains constant regardless of size - this is something they've only just brought into PS CS6. I really like this a lot!

I would love to see what you do with it. =)

ravells

09-06-2012, 03:21 AM

Lol, it probably won't be that impressive but it looks like it will fit into the town/city workflow that I'm working on at the moment. The sadness is that a few days ago I bought Corel Painter (waiting for it to be delivered) - albeit at a knockdown price. If I had found this first I would have saved myself the money.

Chashio

09-06-2012, 10:04 AM

Lol, it probably won't be that impressive but it looks like it will fit into the town/city workflow that I'm working on at the moment. The sadness is that a few days ago I bought Corel Painter (waiting for it to be delivered) - albeit at a knockdown price. If I had found this first I would have saved myself the money.

Impressive or not, I'm still curious to see how you use it. =)

I bought Painter a year ago (at reduced price) and before it arrived, my computer broke. Must be cursed. I was able to return the software, though you should have seen my face when it left my hands at the post office. Still has a few points over this program, IMO.

ravells

09-06-2012, 10:35 AM

Here is a play around I'm doing at the moment compared to a small test I was running with Serif Drawplus X5. It's not much to look at, I'm afraid :). I've just discovered the image hose brushes in TB, which are going to be very useful to make trees with. I can't believe how much they've packed into this thing!

torstan

09-06-2012, 10:49 AM

Wow - very nice! I'm on a Mac so can't try this out, but it looks great so far.

ravells

09-06-2012, 10:52 AM

That's a shame Jon, I was thinking that TB could be just up your street, particularly with your food illustrations. The watercolour brushes really rock.

torstan

09-06-2012, 10:55 AM

I'm tinkering with Artrage for natural brush feel at the moment. Jon Hodgson does beautiful watercolour work in it - but having just started with it, I'm finding that it's tough to get nice watercolour effects out of it. I'll keep plugging away and I'll post some map work when/if I get it working for me.

Chashio

09-06-2012, 11:02 AM

Not bad at all, ravells. =) What tool did you use for the line work? I thought it was scanned.

Chashio

09-06-2012, 12:05 PM

I'm tinkering with Artrage for natural brush feel at the moment. Jon Hodgson does beautiful watercolour work in it - but having just started with it, I'm finding that it's tough to get nice watercolour effects out of it. I'll keep plugging away and I'll post some map work when/if I get it working for me.

@torstan: In Artrage, if you change the paper texture, either on the base menu or the layer menu, you get much better watercolor effects. I touched on it in my thread here (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?19512-Ink-and-Watercolor-on-Parchment-Digital-Techniques) (post 8 ) but much of that knowledge was gained from a youtube video in which a guy paints a skull... here it is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsgwbHMaqjY).

torstan

09-06-2012, 12:12 PM

Hey Chasio - thanks a lot! Those are great links. It's worth checking out these by Jon Hodgson too: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJonHodgson?feature=CBAQwRs%3D (I haven't done more than glance at them so far, but they look like a good resource).

ravells

09-06-2012, 12:23 PM

Not bad at all, ravells. =) What tool did you use for the line work? I thought it was scanned.

Yes, it was scanned, a quick pencil sketch to give me something to paint on. I'm also experimenting by putting in the tonal values by using art marker pens. It's a lot faster than doing it digitally (but there is no ctrl-z) :-O

Chashio

09-07-2012, 01:38 AM

Thanks, torstan =) I watched a few of the Jon Hodgson videos... he definitely knows how to use the program. Although, it looks like he uses the oil brush instead of watercolor (at least in the ones I watched).

ravells: Drat. I should have stuck with my first thought... I knew it was scanned. haha!

Here's my test run with TBrush... I haven't figured out how to adjust the resolution yet (too tired to bother), so 72ppi is what happened. Oh well.

48053

ravells

09-07-2012, 04:27 AM

Hey that looks really promising. Looks like you are going with the oils?

I have the feeling that TB just works in pixels so you have to do the maths yourself if you want to calculate how big a canvas you will in pixels need to support print resolutions given the physical size you want to print at.

I'm finding the whole masking process a bit frustrating in TB (photoshop it is not!). It doesn't seem to support a default transparent layer (but I'm probably doing something wrong) - right now I have the background set to white on all my layers and the blend mode as multiply (which isn't ideal). I'm almost inclined to forget that it has layers at all and just paint everything on one layer.

Chashio

09-07-2012, 11:33 AM

Groan. I dislike math. And it's watercolor, actually. I'll do something with the oils sometime, but good digital watercolors are hard to pass up when you find them. ;)

For more details on tools and process:
I used a huge (slow) wet wc brush to soften the white paper (linen paper) then a smaller (between 30-80px) dry wc brush for the land and water.
(as most people know, but for those who don't...) The color picker (ALT) makes blending easier, though in this program it doesn't have an X to mark the middle so you have to aim well if your brush is very big. And, being watercolor, it only darkens and once it's dark it's rather difficult to make it lighter, but if you pick something close to white I found that it acts vaguely like water on wet paint and will lighten a little.
The rivers were accomplished with the writing pen tool, the white labels (meant to simulate brushed masking fluid) with another pen (I think it's called rough edged pen) and I believe I did the dark label in ball point. The drawing tools seem to be a bit harder to use (that's probably the resolution... and none of those are Pro tools), and I've yet to find a pencil I like. But there you go.

ravells

09-07-2012, 12:10 PM

Ah sorry, my bad...I'm playing lots with the watercolours too. There are so many dang brushes and it does so many things (some so similar that I think one could cut down on the brushes but I'd prefer to have more rather than fewer).

Good news, you can adjust the resolution: Go to Page > Set Page Size and everything you need is there.

I've yet to get to grips with paper textures, but there are so many nooks and crannies to explore. I'm just a bit sorry that once Painter arrives I shall probably shelve TB while I get to grips with Painter. They seem to be so similar in application I don't really want to have to take the time to learn both bits of software in depth. Once I've compared them and decided which one I like better, I'll probably just let the other one gather dust.

Chashio

09-07-2012, 06:37 PM

Good news, you can adjust the resolution: Go to Page > Set Page Size and everything you need is there.

Excellent! Thank you for figuring that out. =) I think I may upgrade to the newest edition... Just breezed through the revision list (http://help.pixarra.com/s/help_resources/m/RevisionHistory) for 18 and 19 and I think it's worth it. Aaaand... the discount doesn't hurt, either. ;)

Edit: Ooh, I just found the precision brush mode in Edit > Preferences. Though I was hoping to change the default background color. It doesn't really matter since you can do Page > Clear Page to Current Color. I like that better.

ravells

09-07-2012, 07:41 PM

I upgraded earlier today :)

Chashio

09-07-2012, 08:10 PM

I upgraded earlier today :)

Nice!

Messing about with the oils... that's as far as I could get without looking at a photo reference, haha! Well, I might have muddled through, but it would have been mud. =) Lot's of fun, though!
48066

ravells

09-07-2012, 08:34 PM

Hey that looks really good! I've started on another city test. It's still not where I want it, but it's getting there.

Chashio

09-07-2012, 08:50 PM

Lol, my bottle's not wholly there yet, but thanks. =) And likewise! Those shapes are intriguing... I look forward to seeing them completed. The shadows really set it off! Did you use the markers to lay things out before scanning?

ravells

09-08-2012, 05:28 AM

On this map I took a screenshot of a city (Montepulciano in Tuscany), roughly traced the walls, roads and other negative spaces (like squares, gardens etc) and then printed it out poster sized on my printer (4 sheets of paper) and then used a 0.5mm mechanical pencil to draw the buildings. It looks so much better on the paper than the scan. I'm going to have to find another way of doing this. Hand drawing buildings with a pencil is much faster than using the computer but the computer gives a cleaner line (which is also a bit characterless). I dont want to have to 'ink' the pencil though, that would really drive me mad in terms of taking time.

Chashio

09-08-2012, 09:59 AM

I wonder..... Could you tape a piece of paper to your tablet and rig/tape a pencil to the stylus, and set the side button to left click? Probably not. I know they have ink tips for some of the wacom styluses. That might be worth it.

ravells

09-08-2012, 07:31 PM

It's just a question of finding what works for you....I'm getting there slowly, but it's back to Serif Drawplus which is giving me the best results in faking watercolour effects but still being fast with it. (see attached). I'm thinking I might work in more water colour effects with painter (finally arrived - yay!) or TB later.

Chashio

09-08-2012, 07:32 PM

I wonder..... Could you tape a piece of paper to your tablet and rig/tape a pencil to the stylus, and set the side button to left click? Probably not.

On a side note, could we change the thread title to the program name now that the freebie offer is expired?

ravells

09-08-2012, 09:31 PM

All done. And this for 10 characters.

lostatsea

09-08-2012, 11:04 PM

I've tried this twisted brush before. I had a lot of difficulty figuring things out. However the new owners manual is much better at explaining ALL the various settings of which there is a huge amount. I has the potential to be a Great mapping program. There are however a few problems with it for me. ONE: I like to use some very non standard brushes and there doesn't seem to be a easy way to recreate or import them Into twisted brush. Two I have a powerful system, well above the max requirements however Some of the include brushes lag terribly behind the cursor while applying. Draw a stroke wait 6-8 seconds for it to catch up then repeat. Basically makes those brushes more hassle than they are worth. All in all though there is so much that can be done with it if I can find work-arounds for those two problems . I 'll switch most of my mapping projects over to it !! Nice TRIALS guys. Ravells did you get help with that problem on the support forum ??

ravells

09-09-2012, 08:12 AM

The latest edition of TB is meant to be twice as fast for brushes over 50 px as it now uses multi-core processing (there is a difference but hard to say whether it's twice as good). The feedback on the forum was really quick with the main man, Ken (who I think wrote the software) answering within 24 hours. I've just started to play with Painter. I love the way it rotates and tilts with the stylus. The watercolours are really nice too!